Unpaid salaries, no work: Migrant workers in 2 related firms left anxious

SINGAPORE – Bangladeshi migrant worker Hossain Midul has sent almost all of his $600 salary – including overtime pay – home every month since he came to Singapore in July 2025.

But for the last two months, the 24-year-old has not sent anything home as he has not been paid, he said.

His employer also cancelled his work permit without explanation in early October, he added. It was due to expire in July 2027.

Typically, about half of what he earns goes towards financing a $9,000 bank loan he had taken out to pay agent fees to come to Singapore, while most of the remainder feeds his family of six in the western Pabna district in Bangladesh.

“My family has very little, so I left home to support them. But now I have no work and no salary – I’m very scared they will have to suffer,” said Hossain.

He is among nearly 240 migrant workers from two process sector firms who have not received their pay for two to three months. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in a statement on Oct 24 that it is currently investigating Process Maintenance Solutions and Jurong Technical & Construction.

The workers, mostly from Bangladesh, are getting help from MOM and the Migrant Workers’ Centre (MWC) on salary claims filed with the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management.

Five out of the 15 workers from Process Maintenance Solutions whom The Straits Times spoke to said they had received their owed wages in October. But four workers from Jurong Technical & Construction said on Oct 24 that they remain unpaid.

Checks by ST show the two firms are linked, with their workers housed in the same Tuas dormitories.

ST also understands the two firms’ current directors have taken over companies previously held by a man who was arrested in July for suspected employment-related offences in a case that MOM believes involves a criminal syndicate.

Anxieties over wages, future

Workers from both companies said they stopped receiving their salaries in August and added that their work permits have been cancelled in batches since late September.

The situation has made workers anxious over their future in Singapore and their families’ plight back home. All the workers ST spoke to said they have been here for less than two years.

Hossain, who said he is owed $1,800 by Process Maintenance Solutions, added: “Many of our families sold land and cattle, and we took loans to come here. Some people also borrowed money from relatives.”

Jurong Technical & Construction worker Saimon Islam, 21, said he is resigned that he might receive only a portion of the roughly $1,800 that he is owed.

Separately, several workers said they had paid recruitment agents upwards of $12,000 while in Bangladesh to secure a process sector job in Singapore. Process work involves specialised industrial, manufacturing and maintenance work at locations such as Jurong Island.

They were told their employer would enrol them in Singapore’s construction certification course after a year of work, but only one worker out of the 15 told ST he had been sent for the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) certification.

Riyag, 26, who has not been sent for the course, said some workers on process permits seek BCA certification to qualify for work in the construction sector, which pays better.

Construction workers earn an average monthly salary of $868, including allowances but not overtime, while those in the process sector receive an average of $771, according to a survey published by Transient Workers Count Too in August.

If an employer fails to pay wages on time, a mandatory $5,000 security bond they have to buy for each non-Malaysian work permit holder may be forfeited.

In mid-October, some workers received the wages they were owed.

On Oct 23, about 70 workers from Process Maintenance Solutions met the firm’s director Ruzaidi Massunik and officers from MOM at the MWC Recreation Club in Soon Lee Road.

Ruzaidi was seen passing documents that recorded working days and overtime hours to those who said they are still owed wages.

Rajiv Hossain, who received his owed wages a week before the Oct 23 meeting, said workers were told by the authorities that they would be given letters authorising them to find new employers in the process sector.

“They said MOM can’t help us with the BCA certification because the agent fees were paid in Bangladesh, but maybe we can ask our new employers to try to send us for it,” said the 25-year-old.

“If we have to pay an agent a lot of money again to join a new company, but they also don’t send us for BCA course, it’ll be a big problem.”

ST has asked MOM if it is aware of this arrangement for certification and what action it is taking, if any.

Later on Oct 23, MWC said in a statement that it is working with its employment agency partners to explore suitable employment and transition assistance for workers.

Besides financial assistance, MWC is also providing meals to about 90 workers.

When ST visited the Process Maintenance Solutions office in Kaki Bukit on Oct 26, there was no sign or company name on the unit’s door, which bore markings of a sign that had been removed.

A man in the office said the workers’ salary claims and issues with the BCA certification have been settled.

He said the workers’ wages had gone unpaid because of some discrepancies when the firm changed hands in August.

Companies linked, former director arrested

Corporate records show Ruzaidi took over Process Maintenance Solutions from former director Fok Chee Meng on Aug 1.

That same day, Jurong Technical & Construction, previously named Great Ocean Tech, also changed directors. Its current director, Usha Rani Balakrishnan, took over the company from former boss Ren Ji.

ST understands Ren was among 14 people arrested in July by MOM, who said then that it believes the group might be part of a criminal syndicate.

It added on July 23 that it was investigating them for suspected fraudulent Central Provident Fund contributions made to 139 locals who were not employed by them. Some firms recruit “phantom” local workers to hire more foreign workers.

The number of foreign workers a company can hire is limited by a quota set by MOM, which varies by sector. Firms in the process sector can hire five work permit holders for every resident employee who earns at least the local qualifying salary of $1,800 a month.

MOM said in an Oct 24 statement that investigations into Process Maintenance Solutions and Jurong Technical & Construction are ongoing, and appropriate enforcement action will be taken if breaches of employment laws are established.

When ST visited several factory-converted dormitories in Tuas on Oct 24, it found that workers from both firms were housed in the same rooms. They also said they were recruited and deployed to the same worksites by the same Bangladeshi manager.

The man who spoke to ST at the Process Maintenance Solutions office denied the connection between both firms.

Checks on corporate intelligence platform Sayari reveal that the companies’ current directors Ruzaidi and Balakrishnan can also be traced back to Ren through other entities.

Before Ruzaidi took over Process Maintenance Solutions, Fok was an interim director from July 27 to Aug 1. He was preceded by Ren, who was in the role for about one year.

The same leadership changes took place in another firm, construction company Prudent (SG), where Ruzaidi became director on Aug 1. Fok was director for five days after Ren left his directorship on July 27.

Balakrishnan also took over a separate firm, Elite Projects, from Ren. She became the construction and design firm’s director on Aug 3, immediately after Ren left.

When contacted on Oct 26, Balakrishnan denied any involvement with the matter and said Ren is responsible.

According to records on Sayari, Ren has relinquished directorships of six firms since February.

ST has contacted MOM for more details on its investigations into the two firms and their possible links, as well as the status of the 240 workers’ salary claims.